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POLITICO 44

President Barack Obama took a swipe Saturday at top Senate Republicans for opposing a financial regulatory reform bill, accusing them of taking their cues from Wall Street special interests.

Obama suggested that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came out against the overhaul bill after meeting with two dozen top Wall Street executives — a charge that Republicans have denied.

“Just the other day, in fact, the leader of the Senate Republicans and the chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican Leader came out against the common-sense reforms we’ve proposed. In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts — when he knows that it would do just the opposite.”

The meeting took place two weeks ago, and has become a Democratic talking point as the White House argues that lobbyists are mobilizing against the measure. Republicans have responded to the charge by pointing out numerous Democratic fundraisers hosted by Wall Street executives.

Republicans bristled at the attack in the weekly address, arguing that the administration affirmed Friday that a $50 billion, industry-financed fund to wind down failing institutions is not “essential” to the bill. McConnell focused for the last week on the fund, saying it would perpetuate taxpayer bailouts.

"It's especially disappointing for the President to attack Sen. McConnell for raising concerns about the bailout loopholes in the bill when just last night the White House agreed with Sen. McConnell and its own Treasury Secretary and asked Senate Democrats to remove the $50 billion fund,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said Saturday. “Sen. McConnell takes the President at his word that he wants a bill that does not expose taxpayers to future bailouts and will not destroy job creation. And we are committed to working with anyone willing to achieve that."

Obama also used the address to call on Congress to pass the Wall Street reform bill, which could hit the Senate floor as early as this week. All 41 Senate Republicans signed a letter Friday saying they oppose the Democratic bill, but Democrats remain confident that they will be able to peel off a vote or two to open debate on the bill.

Obama said that, while he hoped Democrats and Republicans would set aside politics to pass the bill, he would push ahead regardless.

“But this is certain: one way or another, we will move forward,” Obama said. “This issue is too important. The costs of inaction are too great. We will hold Wall Street accountable.”

In the Republican weekly address, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) painted the Democratic agenda as an endless cycle of tax increases intended "to remake America in the image of Europe."

"It is up to each of us to determine what kind of country we want to be," Cantor said. "Down one path is the Democrats’ a trillion dollar health care overhaul, a stimulus law that failed to meet expectations for job creation, the taxpayer funded bailouts of private companies, and a cap and trade policy that will impose a massive energy tax upon all Americans."

"Down the other path is responsible, adult leadership, focused firmly on job creation and economic opportunity," he said. "We believe in a Congress that will once again listen to the people and return America to the country they know and love."

Readers' Comments (132)

The banksters are all the GOP has. They have no morals and see the middle class and poor as rubes to be manipulated. Convenient that the right wingers on the Supreme Court has just handed the multinational corporations a green light to bribe and control our elected representatives.

This is a very crucial time for our country. We need to strengthen the Democratic majorities. We cannot allow the Republicans to complete the destruction they began under Reagan.

Obama is "amused" with citizens who attended tea parties.He demonizes GOP Senators who have real concerns with the "cues from Wall Street" line. We have a president who continues to divide our nation at every opportunity.His ego and arrogance is only exceeded by his contempt for anybody who can`t embrace his socialist views.

Typical responses, though no one cared when Obama sat down with Big Pharm, AMA etc prior to the health care bill, McConnell suddenly is an issue.

The GOP is objecting to the $50 Billion bailout fund included in the bill along with additional impediments in it that would hamper small business growth.

They are asking for more negotiations before a vote.

However, the Prez of course wants bipartisanship as long as it's his way or the highway. This has to end. Thankfully November is closing in and the dem's are disregarding (again as in health care) the will of the american people. Their arrogance will be their undoing and it can't come soon enough.

"Down the other path is responsible, adult leadership, focused firmly on job creation and economic opportunity," he said. "We believe in a Congress that will once again listen to the people and return America to the country they know and love."

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Riiight. In other words, don't pay attention to the fact that we hate regulation of any kind and that we caused this Wall St. catastrophe and brought America to its knees, just vote for us regardless of our record, because we know what's best for you. Big Government is horrible. Vote for us so we can prove it!

The worst part of this is, we pay the salaries of Republicans and their staffs. For what? To obstruct and say no to everything that might help the American people? They might as well just stay home and save us the billions we are wasting on them.

The meeting took place two weeks ago, and has become a Democratic talking point as the White House argues that lobbyists are mobilizing against the measure. Republicans have responded to the charge by pointing out numerous Democratic fundraisers hosted by Wall Street executives.

This White House is full of hipocrits....astoundingly so.

Wall Street has contributed $10.6 million to U.S. Senators this year, with a staggering $1.65 million going to Chuck Schumer, D-NY, alone. That’s good for 15% of the entire sum that the princes of finance have coughed up, and $7.7 million of the total contributed has gone to Democratic senators. Schumer’s take was more than five times the largest contribution to any Republican senator and the contributions to Democrats look like a clear attempt to try to either stop or heavily influence the "crackdown" on Wall Street proposed by President Barack Obama.

They show that the Securities and Investment Industry, Wall Street, gave 63% of its money to Democrats, improving on the Democrats' majorities from the 2006 and 2008 cycle when Wall Street gave Dems 52% and 57% of campaign cash. In fact, the numbers for the 2010 cycle so far are the most one-sided numbers we've seen from Wall Street as far back as records go.

As gravy, say the top three Wall Street recipients are all Democrats, and 8 of the top 10 are Democrats. And this is all amid harsh Democratic rhetoric aimed at Wall Street "Fat Cats."

This story, by Dan Eggen and Tomoeh Murakami Tse, fits nicely into the Democratic theme that Republicans are the party of the Fat Cats, and Democrats are their scourge. The story, however, doesn't fit the facts. If the long-term trend shows Democrats increasingly cozy to Wall Street, write the story about the last three months -- even if those three months showed a dramatic downturn in total giving, making them the least-significant quarter of the year.

What amazes me is the complete lack of understanding most people have about what actually caused the economic collapse or the dem's utter lack of taking responsibility for it.

Clinton expanded the Community Investment Act CRA forcing federal banks (with the assurance taht Fannie and Freddie would buy these loans) to loosen their underwiting guidelines so that the more lower income borrowers could by homes. At the same time Greenspan was rapidly lowering rates to offset a Clinton born recession caused by the bursting of the dot com bubble. This created a great demand for new capital as millions more were entering the housing market exceeding the banks current capital abilities. At the same time Clinton along with the congress, but he signed the law, repealed the Glass-Steagall Act which ended the seperation between commercial banking and investment banking. This allowed your bank to create higher risk investment instruments made up of a mix of good loans and the weaker CRA spawned loans. As the demand for housing increased due to the now easy underwriting guidelines, cheap money and the sudden introduction of a mass of new borrowers, the investment products exploded on the global stage as the banks need for more and more capital grew to meet the new demand in housing.

Demand for housing exceeded availablity and equity soared. The refinancing began, The investment products became more complex and numerous. This continued until two things happened. First, as was always bound to happen, rates had to go up making money more expensive and secondly, developers (remember pre-construction condos?) flooded the market with new housing trying to get in on the equity wave. With money now more expensive and a glut of available housing flooding the market, demand fell, equity stagnated. Adjustable rates started rising on existing loans and homeowners didn't have the equity to refinance. No longer able to afford payments, they foreclosed, As foreclosures increased, equity values dropped. The whole thing spiraled out of control. Construction fell off and consumer spending spurned by using equity as an ATM ceased. Sales fell, people got laid off, more homes defaulted and the cycle went into full gear.

Unfortunately the media was complicit with the left in selling the american public that since this all came to a head under the Bush Administration it must be their fault, even though in 2004 through 2006 Bush, McCain and other GOP'ers went before congress trying to get thFannie and Freddie reigned in, but Dodd and Franks would'n't permit it.

If you are going to make decisions (votes) that determine how and where the country is heading, it's best to at least due your own due diligence instead of taking the daily media injections without scrutiny.

Though Wall Street has long been a major source of Democratic campaign money (alongside Hollywood and Silicon Valley), Mr. Obama built unusually direct ties to his contributors there. He is the first president since Richard M. Nixon whose campaign relied solely on private donations, not public financing.

Wall Street lobbyists say the financial industry’s big Democratic donors help ensure that their arguments reach the ears of the president and Congress. White House visitors’ logs show dozens of meetings with big Wall Street fund-raisers, including Gary D. Cohn, a president of Goldman Sachs; Mr. Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; and Robert Wolf, the chief of the American division of the Swiss bank UBS, who has also played golf, had lunch and watched July 4 fireworks with the president.

What amazes me is the complete lack of understanding most people have about what actually caused the economic collapse or the dem's utter lack of taking responsibility for it.

Clinton expanded the Community Investment Act CRA forcing federal banks (with the assurance taht Fannie and Freddie would buy these loans) to loosen their underwiting guidelines so that the more lower income borrowers could by homes. At the same time Greenspan was rapidly lowering rates to offset a Clinton born recession caused by the bursting of the dot com bubble. This created a great demand for new capital as millions more were entering the housing market exceeding the banks current capital abilities. At the same time Clinton along with the congress, but he signed the law, repealed the Glass-Steagall Act which ended the seperation between commercial banking and investment banking. This allowed your bank to create higher risk investment instruments made up of a mix of good loans and the weaker CRA spawned loans. As the demand for housing increased due to the now easy underwriting guidelines, cheap money and the sudden introduction of a mass of new borrowers, the investment products exploded on the global stage as the banks need for more and more capital grew to meet the new demand in housing.

Demand for housing exceeded availablity and equity soared. The refinancing began, The investment products became more complex and numerous. This continued until two things happened. First, as was always bound to happen, rates had to go up making money more expensive and secondly, developers (remember pre-construction condos?) flooded the market with new housing trying to get in on the equity wave. With money now more expensive and a glut of available housing flooding the market, demand fell, equity stagnated. Adjustable rates started rising on existing loans and homeowners didn't have the equity to refinance. No longer able to afford payments, they foreclosed, As foreclosures increased, equity values dropped. The whole thing spiraled out of control. Construction fell off and consumer spending spurned by using equity as an ATM ceased. Sales fell, people got laid off, more homes defaulted and the cycle went into full gear.

Unfortunately the media was complicit with the left in selling the american public that since this all came to a head under the Bush Administration it must be their fault, even though in 2004 through 2006 Bush, McCain and other GOP'ers went before congress trying to get thFannie and Freddie reigned in, but Dodd and Franks would'n't permit it.

If you are going to make decisions (votes) that determine how and where the country is heading, it's best to at least due your own due diligence instead of taking the daily media injections without scrutiny.

Excellent synopsis! Add to this the sub-prime mortgage debacle and financial institutions making loans to unqualified borrowers, all of which were backed by Feddie and Fannie. People also seem to have forgotten the fact the foreclosures started long before the layoffs did. The job losses only compounded the problem. Does anyone remember the WT Grant Stores bankruptcy back in the mid 1970's? It was the largest bankruptcy of the time. The demise of this once financially solid company has been compared to the recent financial crisis.

Unfortunately the media was complicit with the left in selling the american public that since this all came to a head under the Bush Administration it must be their fault, even though in 2004 through 2006 Bush, McCain and other GOP'ers went before congress trying to get thFannie and Freddie reigned in, but Dodd and Franks would'n't permit it.

If you are going to make decisions (votes) that determine how and where the country is heading, it's best to at least due your own due diligence instead of taking the daily media injections without scrutiny.

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You conveniently left out that the GOP is today, yes today, trying to see that needed reforms, including derivative reforms, do not take place. That's why McConnell met with Wall St. execs. The simple fact is that Dems are trying once again to enact reforms that will benefit the American people, and the GOP is trying to stop them.

Obama is "amused" with citizens who attended tea parties.He demonizes GOP Senators who have real concerns with the "cues from Wall Street" line. We have a president who continues to divide our nation at every opportunity.His ego and arrogance is only exceeded by his contempt for anybody who can`t embrace his socialist views

he should call mcconnell and republicans out when their so called "concerns" are based on lies THEY fabricate. mitch mcconnell was called out by one of his states own newspapers for telling the lie that the reform bill would mean endless tax payer bailouts of wall street. we've had enough of GOP parlor politics designed to do no more than obstruct.

he and dems should immediately take to the airwaves EVERYTIME a lie about any bill is floated from the lips of GOP members of congress.

You conveniently left out that the GOP is today, yes today, trying to see that needed reforms, including derivative reforms, do not take place. That's why McConnell met with Wall St. execs. The simple fact is that Dems are trying once again to enact reforms that will benefit the American people, and the GOP is trying to stop them.

Nice try.

Interesting, can't seem to find evidence that they are against all derivative reform, I guess you must have been sitting in on that meeting. Please advise what else took place, or is that simply speculation on your part?

Demand for housing exceeded availablity and equity soared. The refinancing began, The investment products became more complex and numerous. This continued until two things happened. First, as was always bound to happen, rates had to go up making money more expensive and secondly, developers (remember pre-construction condos?) flooded the market with new housing trying to get in on the equity wave. With money now more expensive and a glut of available housing flooding the market, demand fell, equity stagnated. Adjustable rates started rising on existing loans and homeowners didn't have the equity to refinance. No longer able to afford payments, they foreclosed, As foreclosures increased, equity values dropped. The whole thing spiraled out of control. Construction fell off and consumer spending spurned by using equity as an ATM ceased. Sales fell, people got laid off, more homes defaulted and the cycle went into full gear.

Unfortunately the media was complicit with the left in selling the american public that since this all came to a head under the Bush Administration it must be their fault, even though in 2004 through 2006 Bush, McCain and other GOP'ers went before congress trying to get thFannie and Freddie reigned in, but Dodd and Franks would'n't permit it.

If you are going to make decisions (votes) that determine how and where the country is heading, it's best to at least due your own due diligence instead of taking the daily media injections without scrutiny.

Exactly. This is why there has been no official inquiry into the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It implicates too many Democrats. So....nothing to see here folks.

Those of us who were affected by it (I live in Florida) and have looked into the current economic situation that we are in understand the facts.

Fannie Mae turned into a 'clearing house' for all the bad mortgages. It was group think....though never explicitly stated in its charter, Fannie Mae got to be so huge, that everybody in the industry assumed that if everything spiraled out of control, the Federal government would bailout out Fannie Mae.....too big to fail....

And that's exactly what happened! It amazes me that Obama gets away w/ just blasting Republicans but well, I guess if the media constantly 'bails him out' go figure!